Share a story about your best learning experience (could be a formal course or something more personal). Why did you enjoy it?

In the future, I want to be an elementary school teacher and am currently working towards my Bachelor of Education. The best learning experience I have ever had was last summer as a summer camp leader. Previously, I had done many training camps and interning for becoming a camp leader myself, but last summer was the first time I was fully responsible for my own camp. I worked alongside my supervisors and other leaders. I worked with children of all ages, backgrounds, and behaviours, and their parents/guardians as well. I believe what made my learning experience so impactful was how hands-on my position was. As a trainee and intern, I was always able to rely on those in the higher positions above of me. But as a leader, I was pushed out of my comfort zone to tackle problems and solutions myself. As a leader, I ensured the safety of my campers, while providing a fun, creative, educational, and inclusive camp. I learned important communication skills, teamwork skills, and problem-solving skills that I would have never learnt if I did not have this hands-on experience. I truly believe that the best way to learn, is through experience. I saw how other leaders and my supervisors handled certain situations and from that I was able to learn what methods worked for me as a leader, and because of this, I can take what I learnt and continue to develop my own methods that work for me and my campers. Another important thing I learned from this experience is the ability to grow. In my case, I continuously take opportunities to learn and develop my knowledge and experiences in working in child-care settings, for in the future I will be able to share and teach them.

I want to relate this learning experience to Why is Learning Hard because this post states that thinking from someone else’s view is often difficult, especially when we have hardwired our own beliefs into our minds. Similarly to the backward bike learning video, as an Intern, I would not always understand why my leaders did things the way that they did, or why they handled a situation with a child one way then handled the same situation with a child a completely different way. I learned that this was because through experience and previous history that my leaders have had with these kids, they knew what was best suited for these kids, whether that meant the kid required “quiet time” or to be distracted by a game. What I found so interesting was that my leaders took the time to think in the campers shoes. Often, thinking in a child’s point of view is extremely difficult because we are not kids anymore, but rather adults. Therefore, my leaders, and now I, must learn to think in not just our own perspectives, but also think in our campers perspective. This will allow us to truly understand them and be able to make decisions that are best for them rather than what we are comfortable with/used to doing. By doing this, I believe that I will continue to grow and learn, allowing me to be the best version of teacher for my future students.

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References

Why is learning hard? EDCI 335. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2022, from https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/why-is-learning-hard/

SmarterEveryDay. (2015). The Backwards Brain Bicycle – Smarter Every Day 133. Youtube. Retrieved May 18, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0.

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